VINOD GANPATRAO NICHAT Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard finally with the consent of learned Advocates for the parties.

(2.) In this appeal, the challenge is to the judgment and order dtd. 8/12/2021 passed by the learned Extra Joint Additional Sessions Judge, Wardha, whereby the learned Judge on conviction sentenced the appellant/accused to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years for the offence under Sec. 9(m) punishable under Sec. 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short 'the POCSO Act') and to pay a fine of Rs.3,000.00 and in default to undergo simple imprisonment for six months and further sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three years for the offence punishable under Sec. 8 of the POCSO Act and to pay a fine of Rs.1000.00 in default to suffer simple imprisonment for two months. No separate punishment has been awarded for the proved offences under Ss. 354 and 354-A of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'the IPC').

(3.) In a nutshell the case of the prosecution is as follows: PW-2 informant is the mother of the victim. The crime was registered on the report of the informant. The report reveals that the incident in question occurred on 27/11/2018. The victim, on the date of the incident, was studying in the 5th standard. It is the case of the prosecution that on 27/11/2018, Rubela and Gower vaccine doses were to be administered to the students in the school. The daughter of the accused was a school friend of the victim. At about 9:30 a.m., the victim went to the house of the accused to call her friend Trupti. The victim gave a call to Trupti from outside. Trupti was taking a bath and therefore, she requested the victim to sit inside her house. The victim went inside and sat in the house. The mother of Trupti was not at home. The accused was lying on the floor in the second room. It is stated that the accused called the victim and asked her to sit beside him. The victim sat beside him. It is stated that then the accused started pressing her legs and breasts. The accused kissed her. The accused was wearing a full pant. He opened the zip of his pant and told the victim to touch there. He promised to give Rs.10.00 to her so that she and Trupti could purchase sweets. The victim strongly retorted by saying that she did not want money from him. The victim got scared by this unexpected behavior of the accused and therefore, without waiting for Trupti, she returned home. Her parents had gone to the field. Her grandfather was alone at home. She was in a hurry to go to school and therefore, she did not narrate the incident to her grandfather. After some time, Trupti came to call her and both of them went to the school. She returned from the school at about 5:00 p.m. Her parents also returned from the field. She narrated the incident to her parents. Thereafter, the parents of the victim went to the police station Talegaon with the victim. The mother of the victim lodged the report. On the basis of this report, crime bearing No. 0385 of 2018 was registered against the accused.